The Ricker works hard.

Hard at making people think he works hard. He had no problem lying or misdirecting his boss to get a little free time, which in retrospect may be why he was pushed into "retirement" instead of retained when his company changed ownership. Of course, he did actually get all of his work done. Somehow, he ran a very successful sales department. He was even one of the first people in the country to price copy machines per page, instead of per machine (it was much easier to write a contract selling a machine for $0.01 per copy than an entire machine for $25,000, and his firm ended up making more in the long run anyway).

The Ricker was the king of the 4-to-6 hour workday. He lived 45 miles from the office, so he always left just late enough to miss rush hour, getting into the office at 9:30 (except for those Monday morning 8 AM sales meetings). And he always slipped out, Office Space style, at about 4:15, to miss the rush on the way home. Like Peter in Office Space, he probably only did 15 minutes of work per day.

His best move to get out of work was the "lunch call," in which he told people he was heading to a client's office for lunch, when instead he'd really drive down the street to see a movie. Plus, he was so cheap, he kept empty cups and popcorn bags in his car, so he could get a free "refill" every visit. He probably saw 5 movies per month, watching whatever just because the timing worked out.

I could never take him seriously when he told me he had a rough day at the office. It probably meant he had to work or something.